Featured Titles 2004 New titles - selected on the basis of good reviews. Nonfiction, fiction and mystery titles are included on these lists. Books for kids and teens (fiction and nonfiction) are also listed.

December 2004

Nonfiction

• The Queen's Slave Trader: Jack Hawkyns, Elizabeth I, and the Trafficking in Human Souls
  Author: Hazlewood, Nick
  Publisher: Morrow $ 26.95 ISBN: 0066210895 Date: 2004
  PW
  In the 17th and 18th centuries, England became the greatest slave trading nation in the world. This painstakingly researched biography of Jack Hawkyns, the queen's personal slave trader, explores his life and chronicles the rise of the English slave trade.
  Updated 10.25.04
• Bugatti Queen: In Search of a Racing Legend
  Author: Seymour, Miranda
  Publisher: Random $ 24.95 ISBN: 1400061687 Date: 2004
  KirkusBooklist
  Drawn from a remarkable cache of newly discovered papers, this work sheds new light on both the treacherous world of international racing and life in Occupied France, while revealing the story of Hell Nice, a fearless and passionate woman who lived for the challenge of becoming the fastest woman in the world.
  Updated 11.29.04

Fiction

• A Hard Man Is Good To Find
  Author: Blackwood, Jane
  Publisher: Zebra $ 5.99 (paper) ISBN: 0821776169 Date: 2004
  Booklist
  In this lighthearted romance, a Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist takes over a small-town newspaper. Soon he's alienating the staff and igniting sparks with a sexy, smart-mouthed reporter who's determined to uncover his real story.
  Updated 11.29.04
• Seven Types of Ambiguity
  Author: Pearlman, Elliot
  Publisher: Riverhead $ 27.95 ISBN: 157322281x Date: 2004
  KirkusBooklist
  A psychological thriller and deeply romantic novel that speaks with unforgettable force about the redemptive power of love, this story is told in seven parts, by six different narrators whose lives are entangled in unexpected ways.
  Updated 11.2.04

Mystery & Suspense

• Coroner's Lunch
  Author: Cotterill, Colin
  Publisher: Soho $ 23 ISBN: 1569473765 Date: 2004
  KirkusBooklist
  When an elderly doctor takes over as state coroner of newly formed Communist Laos in the late 1970s, he unexpectedly stirs the bureaucratic pot and unravels three complicated and intertwined murder plots his superiors want to sweep under the carpet.
  Suggested Reading: Debuts
  Updated 10.4.04

 

• Skeleton Man
  Author: Hillerman, Tony
  Publisher: HarperCollins $ 25.95 ISBN: 0060563443 Date: 2004
  BooklistPW
  "New York Times" bestselling author Tony Hillerman is back with another blockbuster novel featuring the legendary Lieutenant Joe Leaphorn and Sergeant Jim Chee.
  Suggested Reading: If You Like Tony Hillerman
  Updated 10.19.04

 

• Fire Baby
  Author: Kelly, Jim
  Publisher: Minotaur $ 24.95 ISBN: 0312321457 Date: 2004
  PW
  Reporter Philip Dryson hopes to blow open a murder story with the help of a dying woman and his own comatose wife. This is the follow-up to Kelly's debut, The Water Clock, which was shortlisted for Britain's John Creasey Award.
  Updated 10.25.04

 

• Life Expectancy
  Author: Koontz, Dean
  Publisher: Bantam $ 27 ISBN: 0553804146 Date: 2004
  PW
  With his bestselling blend of nail-biting intensity, daring artistry, and storytelling magic, Koontz returns with an emotional rollercoaster tale of five days in the life of an ordinary man born to an extraordinary legacy--a story that will challenge the way readers perceive good and evil, life and death, and everything in between.
  Suggested Reading: Medical Fiction
  Updated 11.15.04